year the administration of the diocese was handed over to the Indian Clergy. Bp Joseph Mittathany was nominated the second Bishop of the diocese on June 26, 1969, and he was ordained Bishop and installed on September 27, 1969.
The independent State of Bhutan formed part of the diocese till 1975. It was separated from the diocese and attached to the Diocese of Darjeeling by the Decree "Quo Facilius" (January 20, 1975) of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese of Imphal, Manipur, on April 2, 1980 and transferred Bp Joseph Mittathany from Tezpur to Imphal to become its First Bishop. The see being vacant, Fr Mathew Kottaram was elected as the Vicar Capitular.
Bp Rober Kerketta, sdb, dd, who had been Bishop of Dibrugarh from 1975, was transferred to Tezpur and he took charge of the diocese on January 31, 1981.
The Diocese of Guwahati was erected by the Apostolic Decree "Opitulantem Quidem Domino" (March 30, 1992) of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Fifteen centres of the then Diocese of Tezpur in the civil districts of Kokhrajhar, Dhubri, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Morigaon and part of the District of Nagaon were taken to form part of the new diocese. The Diocese of Guwahati was inaugurated on August 16, 1992. Reorganisation of the Ecclesiastical Province of Shillong - Guwahati took place on August 1, 1994 and it provided for the creation of 3 Provinces in the region - Guwahati, Shillong and Imphal. Tezpur became a Suffragan See of Guwahati along with Dibrugarh and Diphu.
The Diocese of Tezpur today comprises the civil districts of Darrang, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra; Rupahihat, Kaliabor and Samuguri subdivisions of Nagaon District on the lower bank of Brahmaputra; West Kameng, East Kameng, Upper Subasiri, Lower Subansiri, West Siang and East Siang Districts of the mountainous Arunachal Pradesh. |
